Academics

SPOKANE, Wash. – Biblical scholar, author and lecturer Dominic Crossan will discuss “Paul: An Appealing or Appalling Apostle?” in a lecture at Gonzaga University, which is free and open to the public, starting at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 3 in the Cataldo Hall Globe Room.

Crossan, professor emeritus of religious studies at DePaul University in Chicago, notes his lecture will explore what the Apostle Paul meant by the concept of “equal standing” within the Christian community.

“Paul insisted that, no matter what your status was when you entered the Christian community, you must have equal standing within it,” Crossan said. “With regard, for example, to slavery and patriarchy, was that hyperbole or hypocrisy, promotion or program?”

In the last 40 years, Crossan has written 27 books on the historical Jesus, the apostle Paul, and earliest Christianity. Five of them have been national religious bestsellers for a combined total of 24 months. He was elected vice president of the Society of Biblical Literature for 2010-2011 and president for 2011-2012.

Born in Nenagh, County Tipperary, Ireland, in 1934, Crossan was educated in Ireland and the United States, earned a Doctorate of Divinity from Maynooth College, Ireland, in 1959, and did postdoctoral research at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome from 1959 to 1961 and at the École Biblique in Jerusalem from 1965 to 1967. He began teaching at DePaul University in 1969 and remained there until 1995.

Crossan has received awards for scholarly excellence from the American Academy of Religion in 1989, DePaul University in 1991 and 1995, and in 2003 an honorary doctorate from Stetson University, Deland, Fla.

Lectures Oct. 4 at St. Pius X Catholic Church

Crossan also will offer three lectures – free and open to the public – on Friday, Oct. 4 at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho (625 E. Haycraft Ave.) on the following topics: